


Say your prayers

by MRI



Category: bungou stray dogs
Genre: Angst, Deities, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, Youkai, arahabaki, familiar, god AU, shrine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-20 23:15:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16564955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MRI/pseuds/MRI
Summary: Arahabaki, a god who ruled over all calamity and destruction in the world, has remained alone for centuries after having been outcasted by his followers and almost the entirety of the deity world itself. His days are filled with nothing but dotting melancholy until a peculiar man with bandaged wrists visits his shrine one day, breaking the long streak he had kept for years. He was no longer aloneAka, the au where Chuuya is a god and Dazai doesn’t care.





	Say your prayers

**Author's Note:**

> This story is originally part of a book compiled of oneshots that I wrote on Wattpad but decided to post here titled “Bon Appetite”
> 
> If you’d like to check it out, go ahead.

"Arahabaki...a god of strength and prowess who was once worshiped by many, now is a name forgotten...his worship was forbidden for years, his symbol of good now a sign of corruption...a god once beloved, now seen as a demon that brings about destruction...  
It's been many years since that war has ended..."

 

A soft wind blew over the mountain and draped itself over the green ranges in a blanket like way, so in response the trees danced in a subjected movement that created a comforting melody of rustling, one that only one single inhabitant of the northern mountain could appreciate.

Yes, the only inhabitant that had come to use the moonlight as his only lamp when the century year old sake sunk into the pit of his stomach in a warm sensation ever so casually. The soul that let fireflies rest on the tips of his fingers without the slightest irk of disgust because the way they innocently tickled his skin proved to him that at least one being wasn't afraid of him, despite how insignificant they may be.

The loneliest creature for miles lay dormant in a small, abandoned shrine that reeked of misfortune, eerily kept in a clean and presentable condition with a stone bedridden of moss that faintly read "Arahabaki" planted in the front for any visitors to wrinkle their noses at.

Arahabaki, God of strength, disaster and destruction. A God long forgotten who succumbed to the stories that war-blinded humans made of him, who was suddenly feared as a demon who tainted those with curses and despair.

To worship him was that equivalent to performing a mass murder, and so the bell of his shrine begun to ring down the ranges less and less, soon until one day the toll of a bell became a nonexistent sound on the mountain and instead was replaced with the chants of exorcists attempting to banish him. Of course, it was only in the angered God's nature to refuse abandoning his only home, in return fighting back and killing any who cursed his name to an eternity of despair.

In the end, the once loving Arahabaki who granted brave men and women luck, who protected families from the anguish of destruction, who brought valiant men victory in the discord of war, became the cruel, cold hearted and calamitous demon that he had tried so hard not to become.

Soon enough, a good portion of his fellow deities shunned him away as well, wanting to have nothing to do with a disgraceful god who was left behind by his own worshippers and who's only purpose was to cast upon chaos and evil intentions.

He was left to rot alone for the rest of eternity.

Anyone would have fled or sought out to anyone that would be able to offer even a grain of forgiveness and remorse. 

But Arahabaki wasn't just anyone, because he was determined to continue to keep the same pride he always had for as long as he could, despite the pitiful fate he found himself in. And so, many years after those dispiriting events, Arahabaki remained living in the same shrine, continuing to sit behind the same wooden bars everyday as part of his daily god routine of waiting for any visitors and to then listen to their prayers, fully aware that the chance of   
someone tossing in a coin was slim to none.

He would also make time to tidy up the shrine and repair any sort of damage, whether it be from the weather or simply a result of old age. Not many shrines look the exact way they did when they were first freshly built, and Arahabaki took honor in this, undeterred by the small size of his home. As a reward, he would later treat himself with a drink or two, and sometimes would sneak himself into feasts with the yokai at the bottom of the mountain, his dark aura hosting nothing of suspicion to the other similary mischievous souls.

Once his stomach was full with luxuries, he'd make his way back to the same old shrine while blinking at the string of fireflies that guided him back up the mountain like a personal flashlight. When he reached home, he'd jump up onto the roof and sit haphazardly on the ancient tiles, taking in the sight of the blinding moon above his head humming old hymns from the kind days. Eventually, he'd jump off flawlessly and sleepily go back inside to wait for the next sunrise...

This was all but as typical as breathing in cool air, and this customary routine was never intended to change.

Yet, for some unknown reason, Arahabaki stirred awake one day with sword in hand to hear the tweeting of morning birds having been replaced with the clink of a coin falling a mere five centimeters away from him, tossed in between the small space of the wooden bars. He simply blinked in confusion, staring down at the 100 yen coin in front of him. A sudden rush of terror ran through his body which resulted in him quickly distancing himself away from the measly coin to refrain from accidentally touching it as if it were a bomb ready to explode.

"A-A...coin...?" He questioned with his back pressed against a wooden wall. "Why is such a thing here? Perhaps it's a prank..." Soon after, he winced to hear the unanticipated nostalgic sound of his shrine bell ringing, in which he gripped his sword to his chest even tighter and let out a small yelp. To his horror, Arahabaki realized how long it had been since the last time he'd heard the toll of that bell, the memory of its' sound so blurred that his immediate reaction to it was seen as a threat, and this idea stirred an unpleasant feeling in his chest.

The alarmed god silently rose from his fear-struck seated position and stood with a defensive stance, sword unsheathed. He slowly approached the wooden bars where he eyed the coin glinting in his eyes, in the end finally have worked up the courage to pick it up and tuck it into the folds of his sleeve. At this point, Arahabaki's entire being felt as if it was stricken with a terrible earthquake from the panic that was sending uncontrollable small fits of shaking through out his body. And this sensation of terror-an overwhelming sensation of unavoidable vulnerability-messed with his head even more.

He took one final step forward and stared at his feet as streaks of sunlight filtered in through the bars, casting dark shadows upon the tatami mats underneath him. It was obvious that he didn't want to look. To look would mean to be faced with unconditional pain no matter what he saw. If he were to look through and see someone, he would be hit with the harsh reality of all the miserable time he's spent waiting in his shrine for a human to visit him for the past few centuries. If he were to look through and see no one, he'd be hit with the reality that after all these years, no one ever cared for him.

Arahabaki draws in a deep breath after a moment of hesitation while standing at the bars, grimacing. "After all this time, there is no meaning behind chickening out," He murmurs to himself as begins to raise his eyes to take the life changing look, loosening the hold on his katana. His soul feels on the verge of imploding the moment his eyes take on the view of the outside world.

After a many centuries of waiting for absolutely nothing to call upon his cursed name, the great Arahabaki's eyes widened in a smothering adrenaline of unknown emotion to find a human bowing to him on the steps of his forgotten shrine.

Arahabaki subconsciously took the offered coin from his sleeve and held onto it ever so dearly as he watched the bowing man intensely, afraid that if he looked away even the slightest that the man would be sure to disappear from his sight.

The man before him was tall, a bit too tall in Arahabaki's opinion. He looked to be in his early to mid twenties with a lanky but mature frame. His hair was one of the darkest browns he had ever seen, and would have been mistaken for black if it weren't for the morning sun illuminating his silhouette, fluffy bangs falling in between his eyes. He sported tan slacks with black shoes, a white collared shirt with a black vest buttoned over it, and wore an obnoxiously cheap looking tan coat to top it all off. Arahabaki also noted that the man had bandages anywhere that skin was supposed to be, his entire body almost head to toe in layers. 

He was indeed an odd looking one, but the exasperated god could care less in such a paramount situation.

He nearly jumped out of his own skin when the visitor began to unexpectedly speak:  
"Oh, great deity...!"

Arahabaki's jaw dropped in awe. H-he's announcing his prayer out loud?! I've never witnessed such a thing unless it was a group prayer. P-perhaps this is the new form of worshipping nowadays, although I've never seen something like this whenever I visit   
Kouyou-sama's temple...?

"Great deity...um...wait a moment, what was your name again? U-um..."

Arahabaki's face goes blank when the so called "worshipper" opens his brown eyes to take a quick peek at the stone inscribed with his name.

He closes his eyes once more, back in the bowing position. "Ah, yes, that one! How could I forget? Great deity Akihabara-wait no that's not right...um...in no way are you an otaku, so...um, Ara-Arabaka? No, that's wrong. Oh, Arahakiba? No! Um...Arabakiha? No, that's wrong, too...Arahabi..no, it's-ah yes that! Arahabaki! Great deity Arahabaki!"

Excuse me?

"Ah, I'm sorry, I deeply apologize for that," he continued lazily. "I just searched you up on google last night, so I nearly forgot your name."

W-what did you just say?

"Well, anyways, I should just get straight to the point and give you my request, shouldn't I?" The man proceeded to clear his throat and bow lower.

"Oh, my wondrous God of destruction, my name is Dazai Osamu and I bring to you a holy wish as a new man of worship! I've hiked up this mountain to ask you of something only you could grant, oh mighty one...!"

Arahabaki gulped as he nervously waited to hear the strange man's request.

"Arahabaki, I beg of you..."

Arahabaki keens his head forward. Y-yes?!

"Please bring destruction and calamity upon my life, and in the end, mercilessly kill me!"

Arahabaki blinks. "What?"

"Oh, God, just kill me!"

After Arahabaki had been cast away by society and by a good part of the other gods, at the beginning, he was at peace with having no one to converse with, the years of chaos he had suffered before having exhausted him of any drop of joy. 

But as he had feared, he eventually arrived to silently longing for any sign of love or concern that was addressed to him, and had dreamt up various scenarios of what his first rekindle of worship-after so many generations-would be like, a habit that he formed each time he got lost staring at the moon.

And on that morning, how incredibly loud did Arahabaki yell to the heavens that he wished to be forever left alone on that mountain, making the entire range shake and spooking his innocent animal neighbors.

Any normal man would have been startled by such a strong and sudden earthquake, but Dazai's eyes only lit up in sparkles of wonder as chaos ensued around him. "My dear, Arahabaki! To immediately grant my request on the spot, you are truly a kind god! What a romantic, indeed!"

The shrine bell rang in a frenzy as Arahabaki's small body unleashed a rage that he hadn't felt in centuries. "A disgrace!" He bellowed. "For my first worship in years to be that of a moronic request from a disrespectful suicidal bastard is infuriating! Last time I checked, I wasn't the damn grim reaper you shit! Why don't you go ask them and let them give you the most painful and disturbing death ever! And make sure you get their damn name right, you waste of bandage! Matter of fact, just let the yokai eat you, instead!"

And because humans can't see or hear gods, Arahabaki's first and only worshipper simply hummed in content as his god blatantly spat curses in his face...

Dazai Osamu would eventually scribble his name into Arahabaki's daily routine for the days to come.

••••••••••••••••••

 

"Hey, that human has been coming here often, hasn't he? He doesn't look like he's from town, either."

"Indeed, and he's always wrapped in bandages, too! What an odd man."

"What is more odd is that he remains living. It baffles me that he hasn't been eaten yet."

"Ah, the stronger yokai have told me that he mustn't be eaten. They say that he is Arahabaki's first worshipper, the outcasted god that lives at the top of the mountain. To kill the god of destruction's human would surely make him blow a fuse!"

"But if he's an outcast, his status doesn't matter, does it? He might as well be a yokai like ourselves! We could easily eat the human."

"That rings true, but don't forget the time when he almost destroyed the mountain out of rage with that earthquake. He is indeed the most powerful out of all of us..."

"Ugh, that is also true...how terrifying."

"But seriously, what interest does this man hold in such a lowly god? And why hasn't he been killed by him already?"

"We all know how strongly bonded gods are to their worshippers. It is best that we leave them to their own devices, despite how strange their relationship may be..."

Many months had passed since the peculiar human named Dazai Osamu had first hiked up the northern mountain to visit the God Arahabaki's shrine with nothing but a small coin in his pocket, drawing attention from the villagers who lived at the mountain's base and from the yokai and various other creatures who inhibited the very mountain.

Not even the villagers themselves cared for the long-forgotten deity, and yet Dazai continued to visit the small shrine, hidden by masses of trees at the top of the mountain, for the next upcoming months, for at least twice a week, three hours each day.

   Any person who witnessed him carry out the  bizarre act was always quick to think that he was either insane or perhaps a masked criminal who was performing mischievous or even heinous crimes deep in the mountain where no one would find him.

    Little did these people know that the man they heavily questioned was neither a victim of insanity, or was a master criminal. Rather, he had simply made it his mission to convince a god, whom coincidentally was an outcast like himself, to take his life and kill him.

    Arahabaki on the other hand had no intention of obliging.

   "A-ra-ha-ba-ki~" Dazai sang innocently after having knocked on one of the shrine's small wooden columns like a door, having grown too comfortable into not attempting to summon and pray to Arahabaki in the proper way. "I'm home! I know you're in there, my dear destructive savior!"

It was late afternoon, as always, when the shrill voice of his weekly visitor beckoned Arahabaki awake from his leisurely naps sprawled on the tatami inside his shrine, having him groan and roll over in a distempered mood. Signs of the setting sun shimmered through the minuscule cracks of the shrine walls unceasingly as they did every evening where he often found himself solitary with his face tucked into the fabric of his yukata in attempt to shield himself from the cold gusts of mountain breeze. Unfortunately, his nonchalant days of being trapped in his self made prison were now inclined with the addition of a lunatic guard who consistently decided to talk his ear off.

   Brushing stray red curls out of his eyes, Arahabaki rose off the tatami in a stumble as he lazily slid on his haori. It was now getting close to the end of fall, and the mountain winds would only continue to become far more brisk, after all. It only made sense with the cold nipping at his nose that he would be angered in having to unnecessarily step outside and greet his unfavorable suicidal guest who sung his name like the punchline of a joke.

   "...tch, only belittles me and proceeds to expect that I grant his prayer ever so diligently. What a pain in the ass," The god huffs out a discontent sigh as he glides through the shrine wall in a ghost like fashion to meet his one follower with knit brows and hands folded into bundles of clothing. In the old days, Arahabaki never really did favor going up to greet his followers in submission to the fact that doing so would show that he was vulnerable to emotions, or made it seem as if he was an incompetent god who was desperate to draw in more worshippers. 

   Sure, no one protested when a goddess made it out of her way to step through the opening of her shrine to lay a gentle touch on one of her followers, but for a god to do so was absolutely looked down upon. 

   This social rule was so intense that even the once prestigious god of childhood and fertility couldn't escape the unfair dilemma, which was one of the melancholic actions that led to his eventual downfall.

   It was nothing like Arahabaki to get sentimental, and his usual afternoon prayer sessions with the uninvited mummified mortal who stood at his steps was no show of gentle remorse in the slightest. He had immediately come to the realization that Dazai would not leave the shrine unless satisfied, a discovery he had found out the during the first visit, where after the earthquake he had sat on the shrine steps for at least two hours babbling about the types of death he wouldn't mind being susceptible to while Arahabaki crawled back into the shrine and tried to drink his frustrations away with a bottle of soju in the early morning.

   Although having claimed for centuries that he had high alcohol tolerance despite   
Kouyou-sama's disapproving retorts, the god was able to take only a few pathetic sips before falling into a drunken slumber, determined that the muffled death wishes that sung in melody with the birds would be an invisible hush once he awoke in the evening.

   Regrettably, he heard the half-asleep hums of  a familiar stranger in his rise from a terrible hangover that same night. He swore it to simply be a hallucination from the migraine he was aching from, but found the off-pitch song to be indeed real once he looked out his shrine in shock to see the tired face of the unwanted suicidal illuminated by the faint glow of fireflies dancing about him innocently.

   "Jugemu Jugemu Go-Ko-no-Surikire Kaijari Suigyo no Suigyo-matsu Unrai-matsu Furai-matsu Ku Neru Tokoro ni Sumu Tokoro~" The man sang in an almost silent whisper, letting the fireflies fly into his palm where he trapped them until finally letting them go. Arahabaki could make out bags settling under his eyes, his appearance lacking energy and all disheveled. 

   The sense of his spirit was definitely low, yet clung onto life in a desperate sensation. It only made the god feel a sudden unease. 

   From the first day they had met, Arahabaki already was highly aware that something in Dazai Osamu's soul was lacking and could feel the strong tug that he always felt when a worshipper in need called upon his heavenly guidance.

   In retrospect, Arahabaki always knew that Dazai's visit wasn't one out of vain, but he just couldn't never grasp what the yearning soul that pulled at his very nerve endings needed.

     He could already tell that even supposed death was not enough to restore the missing puzzle piece in his spirit. 

   Greedy men are quick to ponder on their wants, but are equally as quick when deciding what needs must be thrown away.

    And despite repeating his one true wish to me, I am acquainted enough to sense that this man has no idea of his wants or needs, either.

    Perhaps...he is not human.

   That is what Arahabaki thought of the mysterious man who sang rakugo like a lullaby to fireflies after having waited since morning for Sleeping Beauty to wake and bless his being.

   He would never bring himself to kill the man, not out of pity but because it would annoy him to the ends of earth if he granted someone so disgraceful the happy release that they selfishly desire.

    In place of that, in hopes that the unease of gazing down at the shell of a human would let up even if just for a split second, Arahabaki decided to partially satisfy his want by at least giving him the attention he had patiently waited for. He let a firefly land on his the tip of his finger, knelt down in front of the sleep-deprived sack of bones, and finally blew the firefly into his face, smirking to himself when Dazai jumped back in surprise and hit his head against the wooden rail.

    "Ow," He whined. "What the hell was that? That felt as if someone blew in my face——"

     He immediately paused in mid-sentence, his eyes growing distant as if he were deep in thought, which he was. Arahabaki swore he could hear the gears churning in the human's head as he stared straight at the god's face without an ounce of awareness to how close they were. Arahabaki whom could've simply moved away stayed in place, somehow believing that if he even moved a millimeter he would magically become visible no matter how impossible the idea was.

   Moreover, he had eventually lost himself in an inexplicable trance while watching the other's dark brown eyes, an action which he couldn't find the motivation to draw himself from.

    To put it bluntly it was...comforting.

    Arahabaki felt the warmth of a soju aftertaste start developing in his throat when Dazai unexpectedly reached a hand out dangerously close to where he was in hopes of coming in contact with an invisible something. Oh, how conflicted did the deity feel in that small but unforgettable moment. The way his heart beat quickened into an immediate frenzy mixed with a disapproving acclamation. And that short second where he saw those long fingers reach only a centimeter away from his shoulder, where his body just wanted to give in. After years of solitude, all he wanted was to be acknowledged and held dear by anyone who had the time, and instincts screamed to let it unfurl.

   But he couldn't. And he didn't.

   Dazai stared in wonder as he clenched a fist around air, Arahabaki having moved out of the way as soon as he felt he was getting too close.

    That's where Arahabaki thought it would have ended, with a human finally realizing that there was no one to grant his prayers, and him once again being alone for the next millennia. 

   Dazai didn't falter like the way Arahabaki had predicted originally. Rather of tucking his head down in a solemn disappointment, the unreadable human smiled brightly at thin air whereas Arahabaki rose a brow in perplexity to the human's strange reaction.

   "Thank you for listening," Dazai mustered in a fatigued, gravel like voice. "Although, that prank you played on me and that earthquake was a bit unnecessary. Sadly, they didn't even kill me!"

     Arahabaki stood up in confusion to hear the human converse with him so casually and seriously compared to the morning where he just talked jokingly. "W-wait, can you hear me? Can you see me?!"

     Dazai didn't respond or flinch in the slightest, still staring at the space where Arahabaki was seated only a few moments ago. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't even the tiniest bit disappointed.

     Yet, he was able to talk as if he could see and hear the god as clear as day, which kept Arahabaki in even more disarray over his unsettling behaviors.

    "To be honest, I have no idea in the slightest if I'm actually talking to a god or if I'm simply going insane," Dazai sighed matter of factly, the wooden boards creaking as he slowly stood up. "But, my gut is telling me that you are standing before me and have been watching me from the shadows like an internet predator, all of tonight, although you did try to ignore me at some point. What a terrible freak."

    "Hah?!" Arahabaki spat. "Hey, aren't you being too spot on, now? I get sensing my presence and all, but not what've I've been doing all damn day! Of course I would ignore some mackerel looking maniac who comes up to my shrine and prays for me to bring death and despair upon them! And who's a predator, you death obsessed moron? I was only watching you because you were still here once I woke up! Don't you have somewhere else to be?!"

   "Well, I'm not entirely sure if that strange thing with the firefly was something that you did or if it was somehow the wind, but I won't know until next time!" Dazai walked down the steps with a yawn muffling his words.

    "What? What the hell do you mean by 'next time'?" Arahabaki questioned as he trailed quickly behind Dazai's long strides. "You aren't coming back, are you? I won't allow it! I'll just ignore you if you dare come back, you damned vagabond!

   Dazai turned back to look at the shrine with a sly grin casted on his lips that irritated the smaller framed god to his core. "I'll be back, my lovely god of destruction. Despite listening to my prayers, you somehow didn't grant me the death that I so desire and that doesn't satisfy me in the slightest. So until you give me what I want, I'll continue to pray to you as if everyday were my beautiful last."

    Arahabaki widened his eyes in disbelief at the human's smug promise as he waved and began his descent back down the mountain. "Impossible! As if I would so easily give you the death you want! Bastards like you deserve to suffer for lifetimes instead of punching the ticket to paradise, pieces of shit! After all your mockery, it would be wise of you to stay home and never come back unless you want a few teeth knocked out! Hey, you hear me?! I fucking mean it, asshole! No matter how much you intend to bother me, I won't ever grant your wish! Just leave me alone, got that?! Go bother Death, instead!"

   As expected, none of Arahabaki's detests even mattered in the commotion of it all, since it wasn't like an oblivious Dazai could pay mind to words he'd never heard in the first place. But a certain furious god just could not wrap his red marked hands around that primitive concept, so much so that not even   
Kouyou-sama's direct words on the situation could reach his preoccupied brain.

    "Indeed, to have a new worshipper after all these years can be quite perplexing and hard to take in," She had told him after he'd rushed to her shrine after the day of the first visit over a warm cup of tea. "Especially if their strange  prayers ask for death...might as well go talk to the goddess of death——"

    "That is what I said," Arahabaki remarked as he paced the room while keeping his cup of tea floating with his gravity abilities, a sight that secretly entertained Kouyou-sama's familiar, Kyouka, who followed the tea cup with focused eyes. "And yet there he was, insisting that I kill in such a distasteful way! What human asks of such a thing? Furthermore, he proclaims that he would surely come back and ask again until I finally gave him the death he asked for. To find my first worshipper be a complete idiot has got to be the suckiest discovery in eons!"

Kouyou-sama gently put down her finished cup on the saucer and waved for her familiar to take it away with a small smile. The rabbit familiar took it with a hush and bowed politely at the two as she slid the shoji door closed to leave the two deities to their own devices.

"But, nonetheless, he is a worshipper who came to you for aid, and your very first worshipper in centuries, no doubt," the goddess told him sternly with piercing pink eyes. Arahabaki froze to feel Kouyou-sama's powerful aura deoxygenate the room, the pressure forcing him to take a seat across from her at the low lying table.

"My, after all these years, your sense of pride still blurs your divine duty. Have I not scowled you enough?" Kouyou eyed her junior sink into his small frame in a guilty response, already well aware of what his senior is trying to say. "We are gods, meant to guide those in the mortal world to live a heavenly life and to accord their prayers. That is our purpose, and absolutely no human is born inept to receive our help. I am of course not implying that they are all saints and deserve to have every prayer answered, but,"

Kouyou strode over to where Arahabaki sat in a hush of elegant silks against tatami and gently embraced him in a mother like way, resting her chin on the top of his head as she felt the supposed symbol of absolute evil sink into her warmth lovingly. She was safe, the only safe person he knew in this damned existence.

"But at least listen to the young man," she breathed assuringly. "Even if you have no desire to intervene in his insignificant fate, at least be the decent god that you were made to be and carry out your only duty, no matter if the other gods and humans see it or not..."

Arahabaki nodded wordlessly.

"Remember, Arahabaki," Kouyou demanded as she took the god's face in her hands and stared daggers into pools of blue eyes. "Destruction isn't something that exists on its' own; destruction is something that must be called upon and made into reality by those who crave it in order to take form. In the first place, it is simply but a fleeting idea."

Thus, Arahabaki took the grain of salt he was bestowed and tried with all his might to not crush it in his heavy fist the next few times that Dazai undeniably kept his promise and returned to the shrine with the old invariable request, "Kill me," that looped in Arahabaki's head disconcertingly.

The act was as routine as eating, and almost every afternoon did Arahabaki look to see Dazai walk through the red torii in the act of rummaging through his pants pockets for an ounce of change to offer, each visit slowly emptying his wallet until one day he stopped ringing the bell and tossing in coins, and began bringing random things to offer in replacement of money.

Dazai would wince as he felt an invisible presence tug at his hair in disapproval while smiling childishly. "Why does it matter if I offer money or not, you greedy old man? It's not like you have things to spend on in the first place, right? I take you for the type who takes interest in foods and drinks, instead!"

It was uncanny how Dazai read Arahabaki so well, like a book in large print with bolded letters that he had reread countless times. How was it possible that he didn't know him but knew him down to the tiniest atom, he wondered.

Today was no different, his offering this visit a copy of Jump and a paper bag of red apples that was placed on the steps. Arahabaki eyed the gifts in secret content before turning back to Dazai. As always, Dazai blinked unknowingly at him with tired dark eyes that didn't match the cheery facade he regularly put on. The thought that Dazai was perhaps always tired because of the long journeys he took to go see him at the top of the mountain nagged at him every time he visited, and his overall mood only grew more livid.

He drew a shaky breath.

My job is to simply listen.

"I want to die, Arahabaki," Dazai whined later into the evening as they both watched the last few rays of day filter through the trees. "I want to die in a quick and painless slash, so quick that the blood that courses through my body won't have enough time to react and spill out. What an elegant death, that would be!"

"Mhm," Arahabaki sat himself in the shadow of the tree that draped over the shrine in a way where it wept blossoms whenever a cool gust swept through the mountains. He pointlessly flipped through the book of manga that Dazai had given him, finally have grown attentive to Dazai's also pointless actions. 

Hell, the entire past few months of their foolish interactions were utterly pointless, and this pointlessness is what gave their meetings purpose; the straightforward act of accomplishing nothing in each other's company——Dazai being unable to convince Arahabaki into his death, Arahabaki once again failing in driving Dazai away——meant everything in a life where each passing day held nothing of happiness nor significance. This game that they played was probably the only thing that had them wake each day in anticipation, the comfort in those aimless hours that brought a melancholic feeling.

   "Hey, are you listening?" Dazai held up one of the apples to the sky by the stem while spinning it lazily like a toy. "Or perhaps you'll have me die by choking on an apple seed, instead?"

"I am listening, bastard," Arahabaki answered thoughtlessly. "And death by apple is a pathetic way to die. I may hate you, but I won't make myself the first god in history to stoop so low as to kill someone with a fruit. You've researched me, right? So you must know how shitty my reputation is."

"No answer, huh?" Dazai hummed. He crawled up to the top of the steps and sprawled his flimsy limbs out like a corpse once he laid down to gaze up at the roof.

"Hey, my shrine isn't a bed, asshole. Get up and start making your way home, useless vagabond. Its already dark and the fireflies won't be out at this time of year anymore to act like your lantern." Arahabaki warned.

Dazai turned his head to look out at the trees. He let the apple slip out of his hand and fumble down the steps. "It's already so dark. The seasons really are changing, aren't they. And it's getting cold, too. I should bring warm sake next time. Ah, of course I only meant for me!"

"Tch, damn cheapskate. You say you don't have money to offer me, yet you're able to make it out of your way to afford alcohol." Arahabaki complained.

"Arahabaki, although I really distaste the fact that you make me climb a mountain every week just so you can say nothing to me, I'm afraid that I really want to go home," Dazai whined in the form of a yawn. "So, please hurry up and satisfy me already——wait, unless you're actually planning to kill me by having me accidentally stumble off a cliff while walking down the mountain in the dark?! How sweet of you!"

"...how do I continue to put up with you?" Arahabaki grunted as he tore a manga page out of the Jump magazine sitting in his lap.

There was only silence for a good minute before Dazai began to grow restless. He abruptly sat up and searched for nothing in the dark scenery. "A-Arahabaki...? Are you there-"

Out of the shadows, a paper plane flew in Dazai's direction and crashed into his face once a gust of wind caused it to sharply turn. Dazai blinked in bewilderment down at the plane that fell at his feet and lamented when a apple was thrown at the back of his head.

"Idiot," Arahabaki retrieved the apple that he had thrown, rubbing the fruit against his yukata in attempt to clean off the dirt sprinkled on it.

"Of course I'm here. Where else would I be except with your lazy ass?"

Dazai continued to inspect the paper plane in his hand while simultaneously rubbing his head in pain. The concerned expression on his face slowly was replaced with a light smile. Dazai let out a light laugh. "Arahabaki, you absolutely suck at these type of things. You didn't even fold it in the right way, how sad. A fetus could surely do a better job than you. Good thing you're a god instead of a pilot, seriously."

Arahabaki blushed. "What the hell did you just-"

Dazai hugged the crumpled sheet to his chest gently. "You know, I haven't received a gift in a long time. Thank you, I'll treasure it always, no matter how terribly made it is,"

Arahabaki heard the steady beat of his fluttering heart ring in his ears once his eyes were caught by the soft show of love that Dazai unknowingly gazed up at him with, accompanied with honest warm eyes.

There it was again, that nauseating feeling that inexplicably made Arahabaki lightheaded with happiness. 

That warm and troubling feeling that sometimes had him want to grab Dazai by the wrist and desperately ask him to stay.

Arahabaki hid his feverish face into the folds of his haori. "...idiot, there is no need to thank me."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Kill me,"

"No,"

Dazai spends the next two hours in silence as he busies himself stacking a tower of arcade tokens as Arahabaki watches from the side anxiously.

Arahabaki keeps the tower from collapsing with his gravity control. Dazai eventually gets bored and topples the tower down, anyways.

"...it's getting late, isn't it?"

"..."

Dazai bursts into a sudden fit of sneezing when Arahabaki gets onto the roof and drowns him in a sea of fallen leaves down below.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai brings with him a single pack of strawberry pocky.

"You're a terrible man, Arahabaki. The trains have stopped working this week and I'm stuck unable to get ran over. This is all your doing, isn't it?" Dazai feeds a pocky to a bird perched on a low lying branch.

Arahabaki tries to shoo the bird away before it indulges on something that would surely make it sick, but isn't able to make past Dazai's large frame in time.

Arahabaki cringes at the morbid remark. "Don't speak of something so horrific as if you were talking about the weather, you creep. And if jumping in front of a moving train was your plan, I'm grateful for the upsetting travel inconvenience."

Dazai sighs. "Yet again, I can't find a way to die..."

The two watch a mother bird construct a nest well into the evening. She shields herself from the moonlight and goes to sleep.

"The day has ended. How will you compensate for my misery, tonight?"

"..." 

Arahabaki had no idea.

Dazai takes out another pocky and places it between his lips. He smirks. "How about a fruitful kiss? I believe that will surely do~"

The god almost falls backwards from the tease and frowns in embarrassment, as if Dazai had caught him in the act.

In the end, he plucks the strawberry treat harshly out of Dazai's mouth and finishes it in two quick bites as he stomps his way back into the shrine as Dazai howls in laughter.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai had grown bored and climbed up onto the roof where he tried to jump off until he came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough height to instantly kill him.

Nevertheless, he stayed on the roof and the pair ended up star gazing together, shivering from the frigid winter stubbornly rather than retreat to their homes.

Arahabaki laid dangerously close next to Dazai in attempt to warm up using his body heat. He eventually succeeded in getting warm, but only because of the deep warm red blush that tainted his pale face when he saw how handsome the man beside him appeared in the moonlight.

The husk whisper he spoke in while listing off and incorrectly pointing out the constellations only made Arahabaki's head spin even more.

Once it was nearing the time for Dazai to leave, the god lightly squeezed the other's hand and scurried clumsily back into the shrine and rolled around on the tatami in a fluster, royally ashamed.  
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai slipped an unpaid bar tab in between the wooden bars as today's offering. He rang the bell for once and bowed. "For the love of all gods, please kill me,"

Arahabaki rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Karma's a bitch,"

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Kill me,"

He had come two days in a row now.

"Why do you continue to call for me without rest?" Arahabaki questioned as he plucked the last leaf off a tree. He had finally begun to get fed up with the same repeated prayer every week. "Have you no idea that I have no idea in granting your moronic request? And why do you still come to me after all these weeks with no success? Why not move onto asking a prestigious god instead of a lowly god like me?"

Dazai sighed. "Come on, you know I won't stop asking," He scratched the back of his head with a pout. "I don't believe you to be that stupid to have not figured it out. Why go see such a boring god at a crowded shrine when I can come here everyday, have you all to myself, and gaze upon stars with you comfortably alone? Your presence is surely the best, my dear Arahabaki-sama!"

The god's cheeks flushed a warm pink in response to Dazai's shameless proclaims. It'd been years since someone had praised him as such instead of a destructive treacherous demon. The remark sent his thoughts into a frenzy, and the familiar urge to run to the human and embrace him suddenly caught him by surprise.

Arahabaki drew his face into a frown, turning his face away. "W-what cheesy lines...fools like you sure are persistent..."

Dazai smiled contently to himself, as if he could sense the god's tsundere nature. "I hope that my words wooed you! In exchange, won't you reward my compassionate words with the sweet release of death-"

His words were cut short and replaced with a short scream as Arahabaki pelted pebbles at his moronic face, which in Dazai's eyes was only the act of "the wind." 

The god couldn't help but smile at the comforting scene. "Bandages idiot,"

Arahabaki was happy when Dazai decided to stay despite having already been satisfied.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai brings two bento boxes and places one at the top of the steps as an offering.

"I was going to request that you give me severe food poisoning, but I came to realize that it would only be a slow and painful way to go,"

When Dazai began to eat, Arahabaki decided to eat to.

When he opened his box, he found it to be empty and smacked Dazai's food out of his hand.

This was the first time Dazai found himself to be satisfied so easily and left early. Arahabaki was so angry that he wasn't saddened by it.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

"I tried to run into traffic today but someone caught me before anything happened,"

Arahabaki stopped for a few seconds upon hearing Dazai's disturbing remark, but continued to write tailsmans once the uneasiness sunk in. "You shouldn't be doing stuff like that in the first place, dumbass. That person is most likely traumatized now because of you," he mumbled.

Dazai yawned. "Won't you just kill me, already?"

Arahabaki drew in a nervous breath. "No,"

Today he drew a mustache on Dazai as he took a short nap.

••••••••••••••••••••••

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Dazai asked as he slipped in a Romeo and Juliet playbill as an offering. "Because I find the idea to be absolutely hilarious."

Arahabaki rolled his eyes. "As do I. People who do are simply desperate,"

Dazai paused for a moment and continued. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I believe in love at all."

Arahabaki also took a moment to think. 

Dazai was human.

That's all it took for him to realize how hopeless it truly was.

"Neither do I," He agreed.

Dazai had mentioned lovers' suicide by poison at some point, but the god was too lost in thought to care.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Kill me," 

"No,"

He pinched Dazai's arm.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

"I want to die,"

"Not my problem,"

He pushed Dazai down the steps.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai brought a book of poems today and spent the entire visit reading them to Arahabaki who found appreciation in the act. His heart raced when Dazai got to a love poem and hung onto every single word, desperately.

"Hey, have you ever considered slitting my throat?"

"Not at all. Now keep on reading,"

Dazai laughed when Arahabaki flipped back to the front of the book and forced him to reread the entire book, again.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

"Won't you be a doll and kill me?"

"Shut up, you're too loud,"

Dazai played jazz songs on his phone.

 

••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

"Won't you kill me?"

"Not a chance,"

They fell asleep to the sound of jazz, again.

 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

"Knock over a tree and let it fall on me,"

"Never,"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Please-"

"I already said no,"

 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

"The ambulance arrived before-"

"Good,"

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

"I don't deserve to-"

"Shut up,"

 

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

"If only-"

"Please, just shut up."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Dazai finally brought the bottle of warm sake he had suggested all those weeks ago, and Arahabaki watched in envy as the human gazed happily up at the sky and finished every last drop, not offering even a lick to the god.

Dazai's cheeks were flushed in intoxication, and soon enough his body swayed to the side and collapsed in a slumber, coincidentally and conveniently on Arahabaki's lap.

At this point, there was no meaning in Arahabaki hiding the content on his face, and eventually he found his hand caressing Dazai's warm face brazenly.

It's not like Dazai could tell in his drunken state, anyhow.

Dazai then suddenly began to stir and purposefully turned his face further into the god's comforting touch, trying to find a more comfortable spot. "Hey..." he mustered sleepily.

"Why am I still alive?"

Arahabaki's heartbeat picked up more and more until finally he took up the courage and pressed his forehead against the other's as he laid a gentle kiss on the bridge of his nose.

"Because I don't ever want you to die,"

 

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

 

The two watched in disgust as a fox tore at and devoured the mother bird who had died from frostbite.

Arahabaki saw the dark concentrated look in Dazai's eyes as he continued to watch the gory scene without a single hint of remorse.

"Please," Arahabaki sat in front of Dazai as if to try to block him from proceeding to watch the horrific scene with his brows furrowed from frustration, knowing well that it wouldn't work. "I know what you're thinking, asshole. Don't you dare say a word."

Dazai continued to watch. 

Arahabaki could already see his lips start to quiver open and clenched his teeth when he said,

"How hideously beautiful to be ripped apart like that. Who knew the living body could look so disgusting and captivating, like that? I wonder if I, a human, could possibly look that beautiful, too...how jealous, I feel,"

Dazai immediately stopped talking when he witnessed in a split second a wooden sword fly past him and pierce through the fox who instantly howled out in pain. He stared at and listened to the fox's slow and excruciating death, until finally there was only the sound of rustling leaves.

Arahabaki stood on the roof, thankful that he was able to hit his target in one shot afterwards descending back onto the ground with a heavy force of gravity that made the shrine creek from the pressure and made all the trees in the surrounding proximity bow over from the sudden increase in weight.

The god was undeniably furious.

Dazai also found himself being forced to slump over from the change in gravity and let out a loud cry of pain when Arahabaki sliced his left arm with his sword.

"You were wondering if you could ever look beautiful, with your blood and insides spilled out for all the world to see, right?" The deity growled. "Well? Is it beautiful? Is the pain worth what you wanted?"

Dazai groaned as blood trickled down his arm into a small pool of crimson. "A-Arahabaki..."

"Don't," The god demanded through clenched fangs. "I'm utterly sick of you. I've never in my endless lifetime seen such a distasteful human like yourself, who seeks death to the point where even I who has seen more death than you ever will was made sick to the stomach."

"Arahabaki...show me that you're there...please!" Dazai pleaded.

"If a bloody and gruesome death is what you want, I condemn you to be eaten, attacked or killed by the spirits on this very mountain," Arahabaki continued. "I am certain that at least they will be able to give you the death that I can't give you."

The god stepped around Dazai carelessly without looking back. "And please, for the sake of both of us, never come back to this place. I greatly wish to never see your face, again."

Once Arahabaki spoke those words, he left his shrine without a slimmer of hesitation, leaving behind his one true worshipper without a sound.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

So the god departed to see the goddess of beauty, who hadn't expected his sudden visit but welcomed him with open arms, nonetheless.

She embraced him who arrived at the entrance of her temple with sullen eyes and what she saw as a broken heart.  
There with her, the two conversed in secret for days on what Arahabaki had been through for the past months, Kouyou-sama taking in each heavy story.

The two didn't leave the room for days, a prideful yet vulnerable kami being comforted by a prideful yet caring kami, a concept that must've not been seen under any circumstances.

Kouyou-sama offered to kill the damned human herself, but stood down when her junior said that his death would only make him angrier, because that would mean that he would have finally won the prize that he'd always desired so disgustingly.

Instead, Arahabaki used his time at   
Kouyou-sama's to heal and refocus his emotions to stability.

And luckily at the end of his stay, after having spent a good amount of time regaining his sense of self, Arahabaki found himself to be at peace and overall content.

He made sure to thank Kouyou-sama and soon after made his way back home...

When he got back home, he had felt as if the world had stopped when he found his shrine littered of trash, scattered clothing, and books.

And as the centerpiece to bring it all together, there lay a pale faced Dazai bleeding to death with bruises and scratches riddling his body.

Arahabaki's instincts immediately screamed at him as he rushed over to the frail body that slouched weakly on the steps of his shrine, "Dazai?!" a question on his lips.

He nearly collapsed alongside him as soon as he reached him out of panic. He shifted the other's body into his arms as he wiped away the blood, dirt and sweat that masked his face. His blood had already begun soaking in through his clothes, but Arahabaki couldn't care less in turn for the soul slipping away in front of him.

"Dazai? Dazai!" Arahabaki shouted. He proceeded to press his ear against Dazai's chest and let out a huge sigh of relief when he could hear a set of slow beats, even if he could tell that they were getting slower and slower. He began to shake his body in attempt to wake him. "Oi, Dazai?! Wake up! I need to know what the hell happened! Hey, wake-!"

Arahabaki let out a gasp when Dazai slowly but surely fluttered his eyes open, his eyes looking more dead than ever. He immediately began to cough up blood and his body shivered from the lack of warmth; he was running out of time.

"Dazai-!" Arahabaki cradled him closer. "Hey, are you alright?! Say something!"

Dazai took in heavy gasps of air as he tried to speak. "...hah...urrgh...looks like I'm still alive...hah...how is that even...fucking possible...urgh-! After all...they did to me...? Hah..."

"What do you mean?! Who the hell did this to you, Dazai?! Please, hurry!" Arahabaki pleaded, wanting answers so badly.

"Hah..haaah..." Dazai breathed. He then caught the desperate god by surprise when he flashed a small, painful smile. "Ara...hah...baki, hah...you're there, right? Urgh-! Owww...what took you...so long...urgh! You...sadist? Hah... I was waiting for you...all this time-!"

Arahabaki widened his eyes. "Wait, what do you mean you waited? I wasn't gone for that long-!"

"If you're there," Dazai continued. "Please-! Hah...just listen to me...urgh! After you left...I waited for...you! Oww! I waited all...urgh...two months for you...!"

Arahabaki then felt a pit in his stomach form when he came to an important realization:  
Time passes faster for humans than spirits.

Therefore, one insignificant week for Arahabaki would have been two whole moths for Dazai. He waited for him to return...

He waited until Arahabaki satisfied him by showing him that he had at least listened.

"You never...hah...responded in any way whenever I called your name...hah...so, of course I had...hah...to wait for you like I always have...hah, right?" Dazai asked with a forced chuckle. Arahabaki's heart sank to realize that although he had planned to forget about Dazai, Dazai never planned to forget about him. Arahabaki was truly a monster. 

"So I stayed and waited...urgh...and waited and waited...until I had completely trashed the shrine...and realized how much I pissed you off with what I did. Hah, from the bottom of my heart, urgh...I'm sorry...I'm truly sorry..."

Arahabaki couldn't muster up a single word to reply with.

"But, you know...it would've...been nice...to have been killed by you instead...of some youkai...even though...you did send them to kill me..."

That's when it all clicked.

The day that he had left, Arahabaki had accidentally cursed Dazai to be killed by youkai out of spite and anger, without realizing how his god status evolved those simple words into demands of divine power.

He had accidentally...

"I guess you accidentally granted my wish, huh?" Dazai said. "...I say accidentally...since I have a strong feeling that you wouldn't just...deny me for the past...hah...months and suddenly hand me away...to some low life spirits...urgh-! What a tragic turn of events, my dear Arahabaki. But don't worry...hah...I know you didn't mean...urgh-! For things to turn out...like this...! Although, I am slightly happy that you gave in...to my nonsense...this kinda feels nice..."

Arahabaki shook his head in disbelief. "Oh, shut it! You don't know when to shut up, even when on the brink of death!"

"...which is why I should tell you why I came to your shrine in the first place..." Dazai added, catching Arahabaki off guard.

The god stared at the soon to be corpse in his arms intently, confused. "Why you came to my shrine...?" he asked in a whisper.

Dazai took in a deep breath before proceeding, looking up at the sky with tired eyes. "When I was younger, a kid you could say, I met the god of childhood and fertility...in my dreams..."

Ah, yes, the god of childhood and fertility. A once renounced god worshipped all across Japan...

"...Oda, the god who disappeared," Arahabaki finished.

"Given that you're also a god, you probably already know of him and his story...hah..." He continued. "As his title suggests, he was basically the god of children...hah...a god who made sure that each child grew up happily and with the utmost care...hah. When I was younger...urgh! I just so happened to live close by his shrine...and would always find myself drawn to it. It was a pretty average shrine...hah...but had a charm that I couldn't describe...so I always went to visit...urgh...and ended up spending most of my free time there, reading books and playing on my own,"

Dazai coughed up more blood but continued. "... I remember loving that place with all my heart...urgh...and claimed it as my second home. Then one night, I had a peculiar dream...hah. In my dream, a soft spoken man with red hair in a purple yukata approached me...introducing himself as the god of the shrine that I always visited...hah...and I don't remember much after...but he would later appear in my next set of dreams for years, and I know I always had fun in them, having him take me on fantastical adventures. Hah, after that, I prayed every time I went to his shrine and played with the five cats that I later found out to be his familiars at the shrine...urgh. I only knew true happiness when I was with him. Until..."

"Until?" Arahabaki questioned.

"...I moved away and was never able to find and visit his shrine ever again," Dazai said solemnly. "And soon enough, I stopped seeing him in my dreams...then, hah...I stopped believing in him completely. I had almost even forgotten of his existence. I didn't recall him at all until the end of high school, when he suddenly appeared again after all those years...in one of my dreams...hah. He told me that he was disappearing...hah...because no one no longer believed in him...and that I was one of the very last humans to worship his existence...urgh-! Hah, that was the first time in my life where I had cried so much...my eyes were swollen for days...I thought that everything that I held dear was surely to slip out of my grasp, but he held me...hah. He told me that everyone deserves to have a guardian to guide them in life...and that deities have the job to be those guardians. He told me that his only regret was that he didn't protect and guide as many children as he could, and how he wishes he could've been a better god..."

Arahabaki silently related to the past god's statement.

"...so he gave me the task of saving other deities in danger of disappearing before he disappeared himself in my dream," Dazai huffed. "...so no person or god would ever have to suffer the pains of surviving on their own...hah...!"

After coughing up more blood, Dazai continued to wear a cheerful grim. "...which led me to Arahabaki: The Outcasted Demon God of Destruction..."

Arahabaki didn't think it was possible for his heart to sink even more, yet here he was on the verge of tears. "You asshole," he whispered. "You tried to fucking save me when I didn't even need saving..."

"You've been through a lot for the past few centuries, haven't you, God Turnt Evil?" Dazai chuckled. "Those old geezers were just paranoid of war and cast the fear on you. What a terrible thing to do, indeed...hah!"

"Just shut the fuck up!" Arahabaki cried. "Who the hell makes stupid jokes when they're dying? At least have some dignity for yourself!"

Dazai let out a nervous laugh, sending a shiver down the god's spine. "Hahaha, I can't even see what's in front of me, anymore. I guess I really am dying, huh..."

Arahabaki narrowed his eyes and held onto Dazai tighter. "Just shut up and rest, idiot. I'll make sure of it myself that the bastards pay," Arahabaki sniffled. "So shut that annoying trap of yours so I can think less lowly of you after you die."

"You know, you were a real pain in the ass," Dazai whispered. "Making me climb up a mountain and then getting me paranoid when you just stayed silent, scaring me into thinking you disappeared when I wasn't there. I thought about you the days when I didn't visit, too. I always ended up missing your shed of a shrine and crappy pranks. Sometimes, I tried to imagine what your reactions looked like or what you did when I wasn't looking, and that mystery kept me interested."

Arahabaki blushed. "...stupid mackerel, there's no use of saying such things, now. And you call me sadistic."

"...to tell you the truth, I once had a dream that you kissed," Dazai sighed. "It was really warm. And weird. It honestly wasn't that great. I lied, you were terrible."

Arahabaki turned even more red and looked away from Dazai's aimless gaze. "Piece of shit, y-you really are a good for nothing bag of wasted bandage, always spouting nonsense!"

"But other than that, you were always good," Dazai said, snatching back Arahabaki's stare. He lightly smiled for the very last as he directed all his last bit of energy to the god he couldn't see.

"Thank you."

And with those last few words, Dazai Osamu exhaled his last breath as he fell limp in Arahabaki's hold.

"..."

Arahabaki refused to cry, or did much, really. The god honestly had no idea on what to do next, having grown obnoxiously used to the routine that Dazai had formulated for them. Neither had he ever experienced having a human die so painfully in his arms and stain his clothes completely red in the process.  
"Great, now I've forgotten what it is like to live all alone, again. What a headache..."

"Is that my dead body?"

Arahabaki screamed to hear the sound of sudden voice behind him and screamed again once he abruptly stood up and turned to see who appeared to be Dazai standing behind, who looked as equally flabbergasted.

"D-D-Dazai?!" Arahabaki questioned as he quickly looked between the Dazai who laid on the floor drenched in blood and the Dazai aside him who wore a white triangle on his head multiple times.

Then it him. "You're a ghost?" Arahabaki exclaimed. "How?! Shouldn't you have passed on? Don't tell me you just refused to pass on just so you can haunt people, you shithead?!"

"I presume I am, given that I am standing directly next to what appears to be my own corpse." Dazai answers as he continues to stare at his dead body. "But more importantly, who are you?"

Arahabaki's body completely freezes once he is done processing Dazai's very life-changing question. It was true that Arahabaki knew exactly who Dazai was, yet Dazai had no idea in the slightest who he was because of the very inconvenient fact that Dazai was never able to see Arahabaki when he was alive. 

This was his first time ever laying his eyes on the god, and this sudden realization made Arahabaki grow extremely self-conscious.

Dazai cocked a brow impatiently. "Well?"

Arahabaki stared at Dazai for a few more seconds before clearing his throat and straightening himself up, the nervous pounding of his heart resounding in his ears.

He tilted his chin up higher and balanced his serious gaze.

"I am the god, Arahabaki," he announced assuredly. "The god you have been talking to for the past few months..."

Dazai's reaction was as expected. That being instead of saying anything, he simply gawked at and rode his eyes over each crevice of Arahabaki's appearance as if he were inspecting him under a microscope. As most other spirits did, the first thing that he said was,

"Wow, you're really short. You're like a little kid. Wait, no, more like a gnome. Wait, ant feels more applicable," Dazai commented disrespectfully. "I didn't think god's could be this small. There must be a height limit, right? It's impossible for a chibi like you to be a god. Now I can see why they outcasted you-!"

Dazai screamed as he was slammed against a tree by Arahabaki's gravity manipulation, now being able to throw around the bandaged idiot as much as he wanted to without hurting him. "Enough with the height commentary! If you're just gonna insult me, the leave my shrine at once and go start a fight with some youkai instead!"

Dazai fumbled as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Woah, you're pretty strong for someone your size, aren't you, chibi?" Dazai continued. "Besides, why would I want to go start some stupid fight with a youkai when that's what got me into this situation in the first place?"

Arahabaki scowled as Dazai approached until the ghost walked up a bit too close to the god and turned his face cherry red when he tucked a stray curl behind his ear, the hum of his voice creating goosebumps on his arms. "One way that I can tell that you're a god is by how attractive you are, though." Dazai said shamelessly.

Arahabaki immediately grew flustered and tried to escape the other's touch but failed when Dazai tugged him by the waist into an embrace.

He blushed from hearing both of their hearts beat quickly in unison when they were pressed lovingly together. "Haha, you have no idea how incredibly happy I am right now," Dazai laughed genuinely as he stroked Arahabaki's hair. "Now, I never need to live in fear of you disappearing because you'll always be in front of me to see everyday."

Arahabaki lingered in the sweet idea that Dazai spoke of and smiled. "And now that we can talk to each other, you'll be able to listen to my insults instead of just yours,"

Dazai laughed. "As if they could ever compete against my clever ones, chibi." 

"Keep on calling me that and I'll punch all your teeth out, scumbag," Arahabaki threatened as he broke out of the long hug to pull the ghost down by the collar.

Dazai smiled unfazed. "Indeed, my dear Arahabaki may be small, but he is a tough one to please. How terrifying~"

Arahabaki rolls his eyes and pushes the ghost away lightly. "I'm not your god, anymore. You're free of the living world now, and may do as you please. You don't have to stick to me like taffy."

"But I want to," Dazai argued quickly, inching towards Arahabaki again in a possessive nature that made the god's heart skip a beat. "To stay with you for the rest of eternity in the same old dusty shrine in the same old cold mountain is a dream; there is no other place that I'd rather be but with my god."

Arahabaki rose a brow. "Are you implying that you would want to be my familiar?"

"If that is how you interpret my marriage proposal, then so be it," Dazai answers casually, resulting in him being kicked in the shin.

"We are absolutely not getting married!" Arahabaki fumes. "We are not even on romantic terms, you shit!"

"...Are you a virgin? Because after all that hugging we did, it sounds as if you're in denial. Or perhaps you may be a tsundere?" Dazai asks bluntly.

"I am not in denial! You're just reading too much into the situation!"

Dazai blinks. "Chibi, it's obvious that we've been trapped in a sexual tension for months. Your commitment is hilarious."

The pebbles and leaves around them start to float as Arahabaki begins to lose his temper with the shameless spirit before him.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Dazai finally gives in. "But one last thing. Is it okay if I call you by a different name? Arahabaki is a nice name and all, but it's too long of a name to say all the time. It just doesn't roll off the tongue right."

Arahabaki crosses his arms as he rolls his eyes, understanding well enough where Dazai is coming from. "I suppose you have a point," He agrees. "Alright, do as you wish, as long as you don't call me chibi."

Dazai pouts. "Heh, you're no fun."

Arahabaki sucks his teeth. "Whatever, just hurry it up."

Dazai ponders to himself loudly with a list of absurd names, each getting rejected with a simple glare from the god until he finally settles. "Oh, how about Chuuya?"

"Chuuya? Like the author?"

"Yeah. He's one of my favorite poets and I find his words to hold truth, just like with you!"

Arahabaki averts his embarrassed eyes from Dazai's, taken back by the compliment. "Alright, I approve of it."

"How tsundere of you, Chuuya. Just admit that you're happy instead of glaring at me all the time!" Dazai teases.

"Oh, bite me," 

"Gladly! Anything for my dear kami!" Dazai plays along literally.

"As if I would let you do that to me so casually," Chuuya retorts. "And you're not my familiar, just yet. We must form a contract, first."

"And how do we do that?"

Chuuya blushes and then looks away in a searching gaze. He then looks down at his red kimono and swiftly rips out a thread, then tying each end to their pinky fingers. Dazai inspects it sheepishly, finding the childlike act degrading. "Alright, you tied us together by a thread, so now what-!"

Dazai's words caught in his throat when Chuuya suddenly tugged him down by the front of his shirt and stood on his toes to reach up and wrap his arms around the taller man's neck to pull him into a gentle kiss, biting onto the other's lip to lap at the blood that trickled into his mouth, beckoning the other to do the same with an icy glare. Dazai immediately obeyed and melted into Chuuya's mouth, licking at the blood that traced his bottom lip. Chuuya pulled away gently as the the red thread soon disintegrated in a small burst of flames once the contract was sealed.

He pressed their foreheads together and looked deeply into Dazai's brown eyes, seeing the reflection of his own blue eyes in his. "I am yours, and you are mine. We are now one and this bond is only breakable by fate. You will follow me for as long as I live and will die with me forever loyal...understand?"

Dazai looked deep back into Chuuya's eyes as he ran his thumb over the spot where he had bitten his partner's lip. 

"Perfectly," he answered.

Chuuya nodded as the two refused to break away from the intimate staring contest that they were holding.

Dazai smiled. "I'm glad to say that my dream did Chuuya absolutely no justice. Your kiss was heavenly."

Chuuya blushed as Dazai intertwined their fingers together and began to lean into steal another kiss.

"Oh, shut up, Dazai."

And he eventually did as he closed the space between them.


End file.
